BAPEN Conflict of Interest Policy

Trustees have a legal obligation to act in the best interests of BAPEN and in accordance with the Association’s constitution, and to avoid situations where there may be a potential conflict of interest.

Conflicts of interest may arise where an individual’s personal or family interests and/or loyalties conflict with those of BAPEN. Such conflicts may create problems such as:

Inhibiting free discussions

Resulting in decisions or actions that are not in the best interests of the Association

Risk the impression that the Association has acted improperly

The aim of this policy is to protect both the Association and the individuals involved from any appearance of impropriety.

Declaration of Interests

All Trustees and members of the BAPEN Executive and Council should declare their interests and any gifts or hospitality received in connection with their role within the Association. A declaration of Interests form is provided for this purpose (appendix 1) which lists the types of interest you should declare and how to make the declaration.

The declaration of interest should be updated:

Annually

Whenever any changes occur

The register of interests will be kept by the BAPEN Secretary and will be used to record all declarations of interest received. The register will be accessible by all BAPEN Trustees and BAPEN Office and the information kept in accordance with the principles of the Data Protection Act (1998).

What to do if you face a Conflict of Interest

If you have a direct Conflict of Interest you should declare this at the earliest opportunity and withdraw from any subsequent discussion.

If there is only indirect benefit, or the possible benefit is minimal, you may continue to participate in the discussions.

Decisions taken where a member of the Executive or Council has a Direct Interest

The member should not take part in any vote on this issue

A quorum of other members must be present for the discussion and decision

The decision should be made by simple majority voting

Any decision made under these circumstances will be reported as such in the minutes of the meeting

Trustees can only benefit from the charity if there is explicit authority to allow this that has been obtained in advance. Trustee benefits include any payments or benefits to trustees or a connected person, apart from their reasonable out of pocket expenses. The term also covers situations where a trustee could receive property, loans, goods or services from the charity. Authority to allow Trustee benefits may come from:

a clause in the charity’s governing document

a statutory provision such as the power in the Charities Act which allows charities, in some circumstances, to pay trustees for additional services they provide to the charity over and above normal trustee duties

the Charity Commission

the Court

Where a Trustee benefits from such a decision this will be reported in the annual report in accordance with the Charities SORP.

Managing Contracts

If you have a conflict of interest, you should not be involved in managing or monitoring a contract in which you have an interest.

Communicating this policy within BAPEN

This policy will be included in the Trustee Induction pack

All Executive and Council meetings will start by asking attendees to declare any conflicts of interest

Appendix 1

BAPEN Declaration of Interests form for all Trustees, Executive and Council Members